FOUNDATIONAL FRAMEWORK. PART 14

Foundational Truths: The Bible is God’s self-revelation.God is the Eternal, Sovereign Creator; all that He creates is good.Man is a responsible agent, held to a moral standard.Sin originates within a person, separating us from God.

Genesis 7:1-15. Due to Noah’s righteousness in that corrupt age, the Lord provided a way of rescue for him and his family. The animals collected were 7 clean males and 7 clean females, and then 1 unclean male and 1 unclean female. The unclean were for repopulating the Earth, while the clean were for offering sacrifices to YHWH (Gen 8:20-21a). In v. 11, Moses records the exact date when Noah entered the ark according to Noah’s age. Moses is recording a historical event that is meant to be embraced, and even checked out according to its validity. We also see that water comes forth from two different directions. There is no evidence in Scripture that it had ever rained on the Earth before this time.

Genesis 7:16-24. The Lord closes the door of the ark. The water came forth for 40 days and nights, and prevailed for 150 days (7:24). The notion that this was a “local flood” is dispelled by v. 20, stating that the waters rose 22.5 feet higher than the tallest mountain peak. This would explain why the ark never collided with anything. We are told twice (v.21-22) that everything died.

Genesis 8:1-5. YHWH uses wind to begin evaporation. The “fountains of the deep” and the “flood gates of the sky” were closed after the 40 days (v.2). After 150 days, the water began to decrease (v.3). The ark comes to rest on Mt. Ararat, a range of mountains whose highest peak is 17,000 feet. After this, it took another 72 days for the mountain peaks around them to be visible. In all, the release of water lasted 40 days and nights, but the time that it took to subside was 5 months.

Genesis 8:6-16. Finally, Noah could open the window. Doing so, he releases a raven (v.7) and then a dove three different times, yielding three different results, with the last being that the dove did not return (v.12). Noah then removed the covering of the ark, but remained, waiting another 57 days until the Lord commanded him to leave (v.13-15).

Genesis 8:17-22. Once again, God commands for the Earth to be filled with offspring from both humans and animals. Most significant is Noah’s actions once he is off the ark… He worships!

Noah builds an altar to the Lord and sacrifices the clean animals that he brought along with him. “Burnt offerings” were a voluntary offering. We are not sure what the specifics may have been before the Law, but a burnt offering involved the person laying their hand upon the head of the animal who became an atonement on the person’s behalf. The animal was then slain, skinned, and cut into pieces. Then the sacrifice was burned completely, but slowly, from morning until evening. This offering was considered an offering for consecration.